We've written a great deal about the federal government's abuse of our Fourth Amendment rights through its repeated use of warrantless searches. Now we learn the abuses reach beyond the usual suspects -- the NSA, FBI, and CIA -- and include the IRS:

Federal agencies have shown a shocking eagerness to use administrative subpoenas -- search warrants that do not require a judge's approval. These subpoenas subvert the Fourth Amendment. According to this item from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the tide may be turning, just a bit, against government snoops:

The federal government's increasing use of subpoenas without first getting a warrant -- let alone asking a judge to consider the matter -- is generating a lot of pushback from civil libertarians and conservatives. And rightly so. The fed's latest targets are private medical records: